Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services
Professional services
UnclaimedA New York nonprofit organization providing non-sectarian mental-health, social-service, housing, developmental-disability, and community-support programs.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, commonly known as the Jewish Board, is a large New York nonprofit organization delivering mental-health and social-service programs to children, adolescents, adults, families, veterans, people with developmental disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, refugees, and members of the Jewish community. Although its institutional history is rooted in Jewish charitable and family-welfare organizations, its services are non-sectarian and serve people across religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Reference material indicates that nearly half of its clients are not Jewish. The present organization emerged in 1978 from the merger of Jewish Family Services and the Jewish Board of Guardians. Its predecessor institutions reach back to nineteenth-century Jewish relief organizations in New York. United Hebrew Charities, established in 1874, coordinated assistance for Jewish residents and absorbed the work of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society in 1884. In 1926, it merged with the Jewish Social Service Association and adopted the latter name partly to move away from the stigma associated with the word “charity.” Separately, the Jewish Board of Guardians was founded in 1907 by Alice Davis Menken to address juvenile delinquency and related social needs. Jewish Family Services was formed in 1946 through the combination of the Jewish Social Service Association and the Jewish Family Welfare Society of Brooklyn. The 1978 merger created the current Jewish Board. The organization operates community-based programs, residential facilities, and day-treatment centers across New York City’s five boroughs, with additional activity in Westchester County and Long Island. Its portfolio includes outpatient mental-health care, child and adolescent services, early-childhood and learning programs, domestic-violence prevention, counseling, housing support, services for adults living with mental illness, developmental-disability programs, Jewish community services, volunteer programs, and professional training. Reference material describes a workforce of more than 3,300 employees and approximately 2,200 volunteers serving more than 43,000 New Yorkers annually; these figures should be treated as time-sensitive rather than permanent corporate statistics. The Jewish Board has also developed targeted initiatives. Its work with the Bronx VA Medical Center sought to reduce stigma around mental-health treatment and provide family-focused care for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and their relatives. The 100 Schools Project, launched in 2016 with health-system and community partners, connected New York middle and high schools with behavioral-health resources and trained school personnel in basic recognition and intervention methods. The organization has supported HIV/AIDS education and mental-health services, including outreach to Jewish communities, and acquired the Alpha Workshops in 2018. Alpha Workshops provides decorative-arts training through a licensed design school serving LGBTQ+ adults and people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities. The Jewish Board’s history also includes the controversial twin study associated with psychiatrist Peter B. Neubauer and the Child Development Center of the Jewish Board of Guardians. Beginning in 1961, the study observed identical twins and a set of triplets who had been separated in adoption, without the full nature of the research being disclosed to adoptive families or the children. The study was discontinued and its records were later deposited at Yale University under restrictive access arrangements. The episode has generated sustained ethical criticism and public discussion about adoption consent, research ethics, privacy, and institutional accountability. The Jewish Board has stated that records are restricted to protect the privacy of those studied, while subjects who sought personal records have reportedly received heavily redacted material. Today the Jewish Board is best understood not as a conventional consumer brand but as a major nonprofit service provider whose identity combines Jewish communal origins with broad, non-sectarian public-service delivery. Its principal stakeholders include clients and families, government agencies, health-care partners, donors, volunteers, professional staff, and community organizations.
History
The Jewish Board developed through a succession of New York Jewish charitable, family-welfare, and child-guidance organizations. United Hebrew Charities was established in New York in 1874 as a coordinating and relief body for Jewish charitable activity. Its assistance included financial aid, fuel, clothing, bedding, medical care, help for orphans, educational support, and employment assistance. In 1884 it assumed the work of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, an organization associated with aid to immigrants. In 1926, United Hebrew Charities merged with the Jewish Social Service Association and retained the latter’s name, reflecting a shift toward professional social work and away from the terminology of charity. Another important predecessor was the Jewish Board of Guardians, founded in 1907 by Alice Davis Menken. It focused particularly on young people and juvenile delinquency, including children affected by poverty, family instability, disability, and contact with the justice system. During the 1930s, Samuel Slavson, later recognized as a pioneer of group psychotherapy, worked at the Jewish Board of Guardians. The organization’s child-development work later became connected with the controversial research of psychiatrist Peter B. Neubauer. Jewish Family Services was formed in 1946 through the merger of the Jewish Social Service Association and the Jewish Family Welfare Society of Brooklyn. In 1978, Jewish Family Services merged with the Jewish Board of Guardians, producing the present-day Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. The merger consolidated family welfare, child guidance, mental-health, and community-support functions under one institution. The organization’s historical record includes service to immigrants, families, children, people with mental illness, and people facing social exclusion. The reference material describes assistance provided to Ruth Westheimer and her daughter after Westheimer arrived in New York as a young single mother. Later supporters included Maurice Sendak, who donated $1 million in memory of psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn, a clinician associated with the organization. Jean Shafiroff has served as a trustee since 1992 according to the reference material. The Jewish Board expanded beyond a narrowly communal model. Its services became explicitly non-sectarian, and the organization served substantial numbers of non-Jewish clients. Its program areas came to include outpatient and residential mental-health care, children’s services, early education, developmental-disability support, domestic-violence prevention, housing, homelessness assistance, refugee services, volunteer engagement, and workforce development. Jewish Community Services retained a focus on religiously informed support and education while operating within the broader social-service system. The organization responded to specific public-health and community needs. Former chief executive Jerome Goldsmith advocated for mental-health services for people affected by HIV/AIDS and served on the board of Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The Jewish Board also worked with the Bronx VA Medical Center to create family-focused mental-health services for veterans and veteran families. In 2016, it joined health and community partners in the 100 Schools Project to address gaps in student behavioral-health resources. In 2018, its acquisition of Alpha Workshops broadened its vocational and creative-arts programming for LGBTQ+ adults and people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities. A major institutional expansion occurred in 2015, when the Jewish Board took on behavioral-health service obligations and clients from FEGS after that agency entered bankruptcy. The transfer, undertaken amid pressure from New York State and New York City, involved approximately 9,000 clients and obligations described in the reference material as worth $75 million. The Neubauer twin study remains the most significant controversy associated with the organization’s historical predecessors. Beginning in 1961, researchers observed twins and triplets who had been separated through adoption arrangements. The children and adoptive parents were not fully informed about the study’s purpose or the existence of the siblings. The study ended without completion, and records were deposited at Yale University in 1990 under an agreement restricting public access until 2065. Adult participants later sought their files, and the Jewish Board initially denied that some requesters had been included until former research notes demonstrated their participation. The organization has defended restrictions as privacy protections, while critics have condemned the study’s consent procedures and the prolonged sealing of records. The controversy continues to shape public evaluation of the Jewish Board’s historical role in child development research.
- 2018
Alpha Workshops acquired
[1]The Jewish Board acquired the decorative-arts training organization Alpha Workshops.
- 2016
100 Schools Project launched
[1]The organization and health-care partners began connecting New York schools with community behavioral-health resources.
- 2015
FEGS programs transferred
[1]The Jewish Board assumed behavioral-health obligations and services for thousands of clients following FEGS’s bankruptcy.
- 1990
Study records placed at Yale
[1]The Neubauer study records were transferred to Yale University under restricted-access terms.
- 1978
Present-day Jewish Board formed
[1]Jewish Family Services merged with the Jewish Board of Guardians, creating the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services.
- 1961
Neubauer twin study begins
[1]Peter B. Neubauer began a long-term study of twins and triplets separated through adoption.
- 1946
Jewish Family Services created
[1]The Jewish Social Service Association merged with the Jewish Family Welfare Society of Brooklyn.
- 1926
Jewish Social Service Association formed
[1]United Hebrew Charities merged with the Jewish Social Service Association and adopted that organization’s name.
- 1907
Jewish Board of Guardians founded
[1]Alice Davis Menken helped establish the Jewish Board of Guardians to address juvenile delinquency and related child-welfare needs.
- 1884
Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society work transferred
[1]United Hebrew Charities took over the work of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society.
Products and positioning
A large, community-based nonprofit social-service provider combining Jewish communal heritage with non-sectarian mental-health, family, housing, disability, and educational support.
Behavioral health
Mental-health services
Outpatient, residential, counseling, and day-treatment services for children, adolescents, adults, families, and people living with mental illness. Programs are delivered through community-based facilities and are intended to support treatment, stability, and continued participation in family and community life.
Family and youth services
Child and adolescent services
Services address children’s behavioral health, family needs, early development, learning, and adolescent mental-health concerns. The organization also works with schools and community partners to improve identification of behavioral-health needs.
Disability support
Developmental-disability services
Programs support people living with developmental disabilities through community, residential, and day-based services. The aim is to provide practical assistance, care coordination, independence, and participation in everyday community life.
Community services
Jewish Community Services
A program area providing religiously informed support alongside mental-health and social-service education, including outreach concerning opioid misuse and domestic violence within New York’s Jewish community.
Vocational education · 2018
Alpha Workshops
A licensed decorative-arts and design-training school acquired by the Jewish Board in 2018. It provides vocational and creative training for LGBTQ+ adults and people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities.
Controversies
1961
Neubauer separated-twins study
Psychiatrist Peter B. Neubauer conducted a long-term study of identical twins and triplets separated through adoption. The children and adoptive parents were not fully informed about the study or the existence of biological siblings. The research was never completed, and the sealing of its records has prompted continuing criticism concerning informed consent, research ethics, adoption practices, privacy, and institutional accountability.
Marketing campaigns
- 2016100 Schools Project
New York City
The Jewish Board joined OneCity Health, Community Care of Brooklyn, Bronx Health Access, and Bronx Partners for Healthy Communities to connect middle and high schools with local behavioral-health organizations. The program also trained teachers and school staff in basic recognition and intervention approaches.
Outcome. The initiative expanded school access to community mental-health resources and strengthened the ability of school personnel to identify student behavioral-health concerns.
- Veteran and veteran-family mental-health support
Bronx · New York City
Working with the Bronx VA Medical Center, the Jewish Board developed family-focused mental-health support for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and their relatives, with an emphasis on reducing stigma around seeking care.
Outcome. The program was expanded to provide longer-term access and support for veterans and veteran families.
Brand decisions
2018
Acquisition of Alpha WorkshopsM&ABackground
Alpha Workshops operated a design and decorative-arts training program for LGBTQ+ adults and people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities.
Action taken
The Jewish Board acquired Alpha Workshops and incorporated its vocational design-school activities into its broader nonprofit service portfolio.
Aftermath
The acquisition added specialized creative-arts and employment-oriented training to the Jewish Board’s programs.
2015
Assumption of FEGS behavioral-health programsM&ABackground
Federation Employment & Guidance Service entered bankruptcy, creating a need for continuity of behavioral-health services and client care in New York.
Action taken
The Jewish Board acquired service obligations described as worth $75 million and took responsibility for approximately 9,000 clients.
Aftermath
The transfer expanded the Jewish Board’s operating responsibilities and preserved access to services for clients formerly served by FEGS.
Behavioral-health service obligations. 75000000 (2015)
Sources2 sources
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